A tenement house generally known as “Long (?) Sault,” in West Rutland, occupied by sixteen families, several of whom kept boarders, was discovered to be on fire shortly after half past ten Monday night. The fiercest wind and snow storm of the whole winter was raging and no less than ninety-one were roused from their beds and forced out into the blinding gale. The following is a list of the homeless families and their losses:

John Quinn – seven persons – lost nothing.Peter Baker – twelve persons – lost about $240.John Penders – nine persons – loss is trifling.James Brown – six persons – lost all he had.Archie Mercier – four persons – lost all but a few tools.Eugene Lamoureux – two persons – lost about $50.Louis Forgette – three persons – loss is nothing.Charles Quinlin – four persons – loss is nothing.Felix Forgette – four persons – loss about $50.John Hartney – six persons – loss is some $25.William Main – eight persons – lost everything, and said to have had $400 burned up in a trunk.Duff Gennette – ten persons – saved his things.Patrick McLaughlin – four persons – saved most of his things.Fred Gillipo – five persons – lost most of his things.Thomas Lynch – five persons – no loss.Mike Foley – two persons – lost about $100.

The fire originated in the apartments occupied by John Quinn. John is a hard working man, but he has domestic troubles. Mrs. Quinn drinks and while John was a bed and asleep, Mrs. Quinn was said to be in a condition next to delirium from the use of drink, and is supposed to have accidentally set fire to the house. The fire once started, there was no possibility of preventing the destruction of the building.

The tenement house was built some 25 years ago and was 25 feet wide by 125 feet long, two stories high on the east side and two stories with a basement on the west side. It contained twenty-four tenement suites, twenty of which were occupied. The building was owned by Sheldons & Slason, and cost about $3000. It has yielded an aggregate income since it was built of some $15,000 – the tenants paying each family from $2.08 to $2.50 per month. It was uninsured though an agent recently offered to place $4000 insurance on it. The firm will rebuild the building soon.

The scene at the time of the fire was one which no one could describe, nor even “our special artist on the spot” delineate. The different nationalities of the homeless multitude; the jargon of Canada-French patois and the rich Irish brogue, and the howling wind which, sometimes dying partly down, could again be heard roaring in the distance as the gale approached. The winds drove the flames directly on the Catholic Church which seemed doomed. It actually did take fire in one place and the flames got quite a start on a small spot, but the driving snow extinguished it again. Several men were in the belfry and kept that from igniting. After the fire burned down several families moved their effects in the unfinished rear part of the church.

"Euroclydon the storm wind" howled through western Vermont on Monday night, carrying devastation and blockade everywhere within its range. It began Monday evening and somewhat annoyed those people who were caught out of doors, turning and making sport of umbrellas and covering pedestrians with snow. The next morning what we were wont to call thoroughfares and sidewalks were drifts of moist snow waiting for a battle with snow shovels that had long lain idle. When the town awoke the battle was not nearly so general, nor so rigorous, as it should have been, many drifts yet lying where they were piled on the sidewalks undisturbed save by the feet of travelers brave enoughto force a path through them. We learn of but little damage being done in the village.

A small barn belonging to Mrs. McGuirek (McGuirk?) on Green street, was blown over: also a small barn belonging to Hiram Cheney, corner of Green and East streets, a window at the Bardwell hotel blew in about three o'clock, causing a limb of the law to arise at that unseasonable hour and prowl tremblingly around for a porter to repair the damages; A. C. Bates and Son's large new sign turned a somersault at the mandate of the storm, and a number of fences were blown down.

Several accidents are reported from around the village and neighboring towns. Oakley Gibson north of the village had the roof blown off from the L of his house; H. L. Gleason east of the village had a woodshed blown over and a chimney swept from his house; James Hayward, east of the village, had the roof lifted from a horse-barn; a horse-barn belonging to John McLaughlin, of Mendon, was blown over and two colts injured.